In the summer of 1984, when Michelle Bowdler was a 24-year-old living in Boston, two men broke into her apartment and raped her. Bowdler did what the justice system asked of her: She completed a rape kit and was interviewed by the police, whom she never heard from again. Hers would not be one of the mere 2% of reported rapes in the United States that result in conviction or incarceration. In her stellar, unsettling book, Bowdler, now a public health executive, seeks answers—about why her own case disappeared, but also why America seems so comfortable continuously, systemically failing survivors.
Buy Now: Is Rape a Crime? on Bookshop | Amazon
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever
- Rooftop Solar Power Has a Dark Side
- Death and Desperation Take Over the World's Largest Refugee Camp
- Right-Wing's New Aim: a Parallel Economy
- Is It Flu, COVID-19, or RSV? Navigating At-Home Tests
- Kerry Washington: The Story of My Abortion
- How Canada and India's Relationship Crumbled
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time